GUIDELINES FOR ORGANIZERS OF DIVISION SYMPOSIA 1. Goals of AGFD Symposia Symposia topics should support the mission of the Division and the ACS by addressing research of current major importance. Symposia should cover a topic in depth with fundamental presentations spanning basic concepts and their applications. Symposia should bring together scientists from diverse disciplines, but with common interests, to focus on the most current data on a single topic. 2. Symposia Topics Twice a year the AGFD Program Committee publishes a list of future symposia topics in C&EN and the Cornucopia. The Program Committee, Subdivision Committees, and individual scientists identify future symposia topics. Symposia organizers should consider logical locations for presenting topics that can have more relevance when presented at particular locations, e.g. a symposium on citrus in Florida, a symposium on grain in the Midwest, on wine in California. 3. Declaring Intent to Organize a Symposium Generally the Division can support up to 8 symposia presented in 3 concurrent sessions over the 5 days of a national ACS meeting. Anyone considering organizing a symposium needs to inform the Program Committee 1.5 to 2 years in advance of the proposed presentation date. The Program Committee will review a symposium request based on the following information supplied by symposium organizers: Symposium topic Proposed presentation date/location Need/relevance to AGFD Potential interest to other ACS Divisions for joint sponsorship or co-listing Estimated number of papers or days required Contact info for symposium organizers (name, affiliation, address, phone, fax, e-mail) Estimated budget and intended sources of funding to meet the budget Size of room needed/audience size expected Any special needs - audio-visual or otherwise Prototype of a 'call for papers' handout While a symposium can be proposed at any time the best time to propose a symposium is at the Future Programs meeting, scheduled for Sunday noon to 1 pm at the National Meeting. The Division strongly recommends that each symposium have at least 2 organizers to help share the workload of contacting speakers, arranging book proposals, preparing budgets, reviewing abstracts, soliciting funding and making follow-up calls to speakers. Contact previous symposium organizers or the Program Chair for examples of letters you will need to send to invite speakers, solicit funding, and propose a book deal. The AGFD Program Chair must approve any significant modifications to a symposium proposed by the symposium organizers. The Program Chair will list all symposia as 'open to all submissions' unless specifically instructed by the organizers to list it 'invited papers only'. The Graduate Student Symposium is
an exception in that the papers are always by invitation only. The Program Chair may cancel a proposed symposium but no later than 9 months prior to the proposed meeting date. 4. Funding Symposia From the outset symposium organizers should know that AGFD division promises no money in support of symposia. The Program Chair works with all symposium organizers to ensure that the entire program stays within the budget cap established by the Executive Committee. If organizers anticipate the need for funding, the organizers must present a budget to the Program Chair at least one ACS national meeting before the expected symposium date. Once their budget is approved by the Program Committee, symposium organizers are responsible for operating within their budget. As the symposium date nears, organizers should provide the Program Chair a more detailed budget listing the extent to which individual speakers are to be funded. The AGFD division may provide funds for speakers considered essential to the success of the symposium based upon need, detailed by written requests/justification from speakers or organizers. AGFD funding is based on the needs of the program, not the needs of the speaker or a desire to fund all speakers equally. That a speaker is from academia and therefore needs funding is not a valid argument. The Finance Committee evaluates all funding requests on their merit. The maximum Division support a speaker may receive is 1/2 the round trip coach airfare, two days per diem, and registration. AGFD does not pay speakers honoraria and will not fund symposia that do, even if the organizer pays honoraria from other funds. Typically the Division can provide a symposium organizer no more than $750 per half day session but the $750 is in no way guaranteed. Symposium organizers should not automatically offer to pay registrations for speakers. Many speakers only need a single day registration, which is less expensive than a full registration. There is a one-day nonmember registration available (currently $70). Registration for members is strongly discouraged, and should be used if attendance would be a hardship or impossible otherwise. Speakers working for industry should not request or be offered any reimbursement. The division will not reimburse industrial speakers if requested to do so by the symposium organizer. More on registration costs in the 'Speaker Registration' section, below. Since funding from AGFD is limited, it is important for symposium organizers to investigate sponsorships. It is best to try to tap on companies that will derive some benefit from your symposium. The USDA and other grant giving bodies can serve as sources of funds. For symposia largely by and for ACS members from industry the ACS Committee on Corporation Associates is a potential source of funds (more info at http://chemistry.org/industry/ca). The CA contact at ACS is Theresa Laranang-Mutlu (t_l_mutlu@acs.org). If your organization will not permit you solicit money directly, the Program Chair can sign a letter you prepare to request support from a potential funding source. There is no need for organizers to establish a bank account for symposia funds. AGFD has well established procedures for collecting, recording and distributing symposia funds. Make funding checks out to the 'Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division of ACS'. Send checks to the AGFD treasurer (contact info below) with an explanation as to its intended use. Ms. Cynthia Mussinan, AGFD Treasurer, IFF R&D, 1515 Highway 36, Union Beach, NJ 07735 Phone 732-335-2401, fax 732-335-2350, e-mail cynthia.mussinan@iff.com
If you apply for an NRI grant note that ACS AGFD is always the receiving (granted) organization with all funds sent directly to AGFD treasurer, Cynthia Mussinan. For more information about NRI grants and a grant application form, contact the program chair. Symposium organizers should mention sponsor names in printed announcements prepared for the symposium. Sponsor logos can appear on promotional literature and on a sponsor acknowledgement slide shown at the start of the sessions. Symposia can not be named for a sponsor. No 'Jiffy-Pop Symposium on the Advances in Corn Processing'. The Finance Committee approves the disposition of all funds derived from sponsors. Only speakers, organizers, and/or session chairs may receive reimbursement. Organizers should identify to the Program Chair and Treasurer those speakers for whom registration fees are to be paid. Total funding for registration fees, travel and per diem must not exceed that approved in advance by the Finance Committee. Reimbursements do not take place until at the meeting itself - so that only speakers that appear at the meeting receive funds. Reimbursements must take place soon after the meeting as the division needs to 'close its books' on a meeting. Do not approach the treasurer months after a meeting with additional reimbursement requests. Bring your final and most detailed budget to the meeting to assist the division treasurer in properly documenting reimbursements. Use the format below for organizing and submitting your budget. SYMPOSIUM BUDGET program date: symposium title:. fund sources (inflows) sponsor 1 sponsor 2 approved $ from AGFD total anticipated inflows inflows outflows outflows outflows by speaker * registration T&E comments speaker 1 speaker 2 speaker 3 speaker 4 speaker 5 speaker 6 speaker 7 speaker 8 total anticipated outflows difference (inflow - outflow) 0
*maximum division support a speaker may receive is 1/2 the round trip coach airfare, two days per diem, and registration. AGFD does not pay speakers honoraria and will not fund symposia that pay honoraria. 5. Selection of Speakers Anyone can speak. If they are not an ACS member they have to be formally invited (by the organizer) - so just invite them. Division Secretary Michael Tunick can provide AGFD letterhead for invitations and correspondence (Michael.Tunick@ars.usda.gov). Encourage speakers to join AGFD/ACS if they are not already members. Discourage speakers that want to present little more than a sales-pitch. They should address cutting edge science; stretch and challenge the participants and provide insights into knowledge otherwise not available. Choose highlyqualified, enthusiastic speakers at the forefront of their specialization. When inviting speakers, make clear to what extent (if any) that you can reimburse their costs. Work only with speakers that have a reasonable certainty of attending the meeting. 6. Confirmation of Proposed Symposia About nine months prior to the symposium date the AGFD Program Chair will contact each symposium organizer to confirm Is the symposium still on? How many speakers have signed up? Any changes in symposium organizer or co-organizer contact info? Any need to change the title of the symposium - if so, to what? Any problems anticipated that could prevent the symposium from taking place? 7. Publishing Symposium Proceedings Organizers should seriously consider publishing the proceedings of their symposium in book form, acting as editors. Publication of symposium books provides royalties that support future division programs. Publishers interested in publishing AGFD symposia include the ACS Books Department, Kluwer/Plenum, Van Nostrand Reinhold, DeGruyter, and Academic Press. The AGFD Division will ask symposium organizers to sign an agreement stating that all royalties from symposium publications, regardless of publisher, accrue to the Division. To avoid potential financial liabilities organizers must send a copy of the contact to the Secretary/Treasurer of the Division PRIOR TO SIGNING. ACS Book staff is headed by Bob Hauserman (202-452-2120, b_hauserman@acs.org). Bob will need a cover letter stating the purpose and scope of the symposium, an idea of the types of scientists that might purchase such a book, information such as how the book would complement or update existing publications, and a list of chapter titles with author names and affiliations organized in a tentative table of contents. 8. Gathering Abstracts and Arranging Symposium Sessions Symposium organizers are responsible for getting speakers to submit their abstract and for providing the Program Chair the time and order of presentation of each talk. They need to use the web-based program for registering abstracts. Let speakers know that the Program Chair reserves the right to reject any abstract or require editing of an abstract prior to acceptance. The Program
Chair will e-mail the symposium organizer concerning potential rejections or edits. Symposium organizers serve as the main contact for information needed by speakers. Organizers that have not used on-line abstract submittal should try it so that they can advise speakers. If you enter a practice abstract just clearly label it as a test so that the Program Chair can delete from the final program. The ACS has a practice version available for speakers to learn the system. Speakers that enter their abstract on the practice version need to re-enter their abstract on the live version if they want to have their paper included in the program. Abstracts should have only the first letter of the first word in the abstract title capitalized (like a normal sentence), the abstract has a 150 word limit and it is best to avoid using any unusual characters or fonts in the title or abstract. Organizers use the on-line abstract system to put papers in the order they desire, assign times for each speaker, include breaks and assign session presiders. About 2 weeks after abstract submittal opens symposium organizers get an e-mail from ACS with instructions and a password to permit review of abstracts. If you did not get a password from ACS, contact the AGFD program chair. Putting a break in the middle of sessions provides an opportunity to recover time lost due to long-winded speakers. Abstract submission deadlines are normally around November 10 for the Spring meeting and May 10 for the Fall meeting. As soon as the program is printed in C&EN, organizers must contact speakers informing them of the date and time of their presentation and reminding them to register for the meeting. Organizers wanting to co-sponsor a symposium require a document signed by both divisions. Co-listing of symposia requires no paperwork. 9. Arranging Symposia to Create the AGFD Program Do not promise any speaker a time or date for speaking prior to publication of the program in C&EN. Organizers should let the Program Chair know their preference for a particular day or days. Consider the rest of the program. If other symposia will compete for your audience you may want to avoid the competition. Explain to speakers that they may need to present anywhere from Sunday a.m. to Thursday p.m. ACS does not assign hotels or conference rooms prior to the close of abstract submittal so there is no way to provide any specific location information to speakers when they submit abstracts. Only papers listed in the published program can be presented. ACS requires Program Chairs to schedule symposia so that no more than one Sunday a.m. to Thursday p.m. session is less than 100% full with no gaps in the program. Once a program schedule appears in C&EN it can not be changed - if a speaker cancels the program slot must either remain blank, be replaced with a discussion period, or you can ask the previous speaker to run long. Replacing one paper for another or adding a paper is not permitted. Editing an abstract after the abstract final close deadline is not possible. The schedule of abstracts closes for edits months before the meeting and a month or so prior to publication in C&EN. If a speaker can not make the meeting another person can present the work in their place - preferably a person with an excellent knowledge of the work. If the second to last paper of the day is cancelled the last paper of the day can be given in its place, if, and only if, the speaker agrees to re-present the paper at the correct time should someone new show up at the correct time and want to see the paper. ACS allocates rooms based on the audience size estimated by the symposium organizer. Switching to a larger room is difficult once the symposium is underway and confuses attendees. Morning sessions need to complete by noon as the meeting rooms are often scheduled for division business meetings. For Spring meetings only: if the Sunday that
starts the meeting is the 1st day of Daylight Savings Time the Sunday symposia can start no earlier than 9:30 a.m. 10. Posters AGFD poster presenters are part of the General Posters session but some AGFD posters are typically presented also at Sci-Mix, Monday night from 8-10. Authors with more than one Sci- Mix poster should remind the Program Chair to arrange their posters so that they receive adjacent poster boards. 11. Audio-Visual Equipment LCD projectors are the standard (no extra charge) ACS audio-visual devices. The session chair has the responsibility to provide a laptop or obtain access to one - ACS does not provide them. If you want to rent a computer or non-standard AV equipment you have to pay for it out of your symposium budget and note that renting non-standard equipment is expensive. Get speakers to prepare PowerPoint presentations on flash drive. If the session organizer is bringing a laptop, speakers should e-mail ppt files to the session organizer for loading onto the laptop ahead of time -- this way you can identify potential problems with equipment or software versions. Organizers also need to find out ahead of time if speakers have Mac-based presentations. DVD videos with sound that play on laptops require extra audio cabling that needs preparation and testing before the beginning of a session. Speakers will have access to a speaker prep room where they can review their presentations. Remind speakers to speak up so that the back row can hear them and to make sure their presentation does not require more time than the schedule permits. ACS does not provide timers - if you want them, bring them. If company logos appear on each slide they should not be too prominent. 12. Speaker Registration All speakers must register for the ACS meeting. Registration costs can not be waived - someone has to pay - either the speaker or the symposium organizer (from the symposium budget). Registration costs vary but in general it costs less for an ACS member and less before the meeting as opposed to on-site. One-day registration costs about half of a full registration. In the case of non-members, it is less expensive for them to become members (if possible) than to register as a non-member. Non-chemist non-members pay lower registration costs than chemist non-members. 13. Timeline for Symposium Organizers 18 to 24 months before meeting - Declare (to AGFD Program Chair) intent to organize symposium 12 to 18 months before meeting Identify co-organizer 9 to 12 months before meeting - Identify speakers Draw up budget Contact publishers regarding possibility of publishing symposium papers as a book
Determine if symposium will be 'open' or 'invited papers only' Contact potential sources for funds or grants to support symposium Identify divisions that may wish to co-sponsor the symposium 6 to 9 months before meeting - Ask speakers to provide a tentative title Determine number of speakers/sessions Identify session presiders Determine which speakers will need funding; compare against budget Provide updated info to Program Chair Determine how much time each speaker will need to make their presentation. Prepare a handout that describes the symposium, listing sponsors, speakers & titles Discuss book publication plans with speakers 4 to 6 months before meeting - Instruct speakers to log on OASYS and enter their abstract Review abstracts on OASYS and organize as needed. Schedule breaks. 2 to 4 months before meeting - Remind speakers to register for meeting, and register yourself Send them 'Guidelines for Speakers' (the second part of this document) Confirm the types of audio-visual equipment needed by the speakers Estimate meeting room size needed Provide updated info to Program Chair 1 to 2 weeks before meeting If possible, obtain an electronic copy of the speaker's presentation Load speaker's presentations on a laptop that you can bring to the meeting Provide your address at the meeting to your speakers. Try and get theirs. Ask speakers to come early on their meeting date to iron out any last minute details 14. At the Meeting Plan on arriving 30 minutes prior to the start of the session to check-in with the Program Chair and confirm the condition of the lighting and projection equipment. Introduce yourself to the audio-visual technicians and discuss any special needs. Ask all speakers and presiders scheduled for a session to check in with you before the beginning of the session. Keep your speakers within their time allotment. If the meeting room assignment changes mid-way through the symposium, announce the change to the audience during breaks and closing remarks. Instruct session presiders to advertise/announce the Division's reception or banquet at start and close of each session. A painless way to deal with announcements and schedule changes is to list them on a ppt slide left on the projector before the session starts and during breaks. Coffee breaks in the meeting room or an end-of-the-day reception cost about $1000 to $2000 and the division can not provide funds. Consider possible conflicts when making evening plans - the
AGFD Executive Committee usually meets on Sunday night, Sci-Mix is usually Monday night from 8 to 10, and AGFD has a reception or banquet on Tuesday night from 6 to 9. Encourage speakers to attend the AGFD reception. The Spring AGFD reception is free - in the Fall they get to pay for it themselves. If you have money in your budget left over, buying speakers a ticket to the Fall banquet is a good place to spend the money. 15. After the Meeting Contact your speakers by mail or e-mail, thanking them for their contribution to a successful symposium and ACS meeting. Contact your financial supporters letting them know that their support resulted in a successful symposium.